radshark

I have front and rear ultegra 6500 hubs.

I've noticed on this site many people annually servicing their hubs.

I've got about 10k on my hubs over two summers and have not serviced them. I detect no problems with friction, noise, etc... That said I began to wonder if I should dive in and repack the bearings.

My local LBS recommends leaving the hubs alone if there are no problems detected. They feel the hubs are sealed pretty good and servicing them so that they operated as good as new is nearly impossible.

So what is the most prudent course of action - leave them alone or repack them?

Cheers,

kycycler

As you LBS said, no need to do an overhaul. These bearings are sealed and do not need servicing unless they start to make noise and/or you can feel looseness.

fietsbob

Maintenance, Service prudent,
the alternate choice, then, you can use, discard, and buy new.

cone wrench 2, left side nuts, , loosen and unscrew those ,
It's maybe a 30 minute DIY job at most.

It's safe to assume factory has incentive to use minimal grease,
in assembly of thousands of hubs .

cyccommute 

I've run across far too many cone and cup hubs from Shimano that are poorly adjusted to believe the shop about not being able to adjust them as good as new. However the shop is mostly right about the hubs not needing a lot of service. Cone and cup hubs need more service than cartridge bearings but yearly service is probably too often. In days past, the seals were so poor that yearly service was needed but newer hubs are sealed better. Greases are better formulated as well.

Ira B

If I am having that conversation with myself I would pull them for service and/or inspection.
Kind of like old food in the fridge. If you are even asking yourself if it's still ok........

BCRider

I'd think twice about using that shop for anything if they can't tune the bearing preload on a simple cup and cone hub following a servicing. It's pretty easy to do this and make it roll at least as good as when the wheel was new. It's fussy and takes some time due to the trial and error manner of fine setting the bearing preload but it's hardly rocket surgery....

Cartridge bearing hubs are another matter. In this case it's leave it alone until there's a rough feel and then replace. Some seriously dedicated or fanatical folks will carefully remove the inner seal on their cartridge bearings and grease the balls at intervals. But frankly for most of us it's more trouble than it's worth. Such bearins typically go a good 5 or more years before failing. And they are fairly cheap to replace.

But for cup and cone bearings, which is most if not all that Shimano sells, doing a strip and clean every few years is a wise course of action. There's certainly no need to do it annually for the reasons mentioned by cycommute and others. But over time, and especially if you ride in wet or muddy conditions or wash your bike at all frequently, water and grit will get in and build up in the hub. For bikes ridden in dry conditions and washed carefully and not that often you can easily go two or three years between servicings. But I wouldn't leave it much longer than that.

radshark

Thanks gentlemen. I'll leave em for a bit.

By the way BCRider can I quote you on this:

BCRider

Sure you can. But the "rocket surgery" and "brain science" cross quoting is a lot older than me....

davidad

I overhaul my shimano hubs every 2500 to 3000 miles. The longest I have gone is a little over 5000 miles and I had to replace a cone. I have hubs with over 50k miles on them.
Park and Barnett's go for the 3000 mile interval.

blamp28

Of course they don't think service is necessary. The person you spoke with is
A. Inexperienced and needs to be avoided - or
B. Did not understand that you have two seasons and 10K miles on these hubs - or
C. Aware that the only way to sell you new parts is to advise you in a manner so as to get the old ones to wear out sooner.

I vote for A or B. There are few people that callous.

When I found a bargain on these same hubs, a few seasons ago, the first thing I did upon receiving them was a disassembly and grease job. I had read far too often of hubs with very little grease right from the factory. These hubs will last many thousands of miles when serviced properly so you are right on track to do this. Knowing this, you know exactly how much credibility to give statements by this LBS employee. If he - or that shop cannot do a simple adjustment on this type of hub, run away - fast.

BCRider

Your faith in the good nature of humankind is somehow warming but likely misplaced. I vote for "D- All of the above".

And yeah, at 10K miles I'd say it would be wise to start thinking about servicing them. If nothing else you'll get a chance to see how things are in there and what to expect for the next service interval. You may find you'd be OK for another 5K in which case you'll go back in at 15K miles further along. Or you may find that there's some signs that it should have been done a touch sooner.

At the very least I'd suggest you replace the balls at this service.